Series 2, Episode 2
John Creedon is a man on a mission, teasing and exploring the true meaning behind some of Ireland’s most unusual, iconic and famous place names. Each show is an hour long journey where John discovers lost meanings behind every day place names.
He travels the length and breadth of Ireland uncovering hidden folklore, forgotten history, secret architecture and obscure topography of our country’s towns, cities, villages, highways and byways that give rise to Ireland’s place names.
Referring to the work of John O’Donovan – the man who helped document place names for the 1840s survey – John Creedon cracks the code of some of Ireland’s best loved, quirkiest and common place names.
Episode 2
In Episode two, directed and produced by Mary Martin, actor and farmer Mary McEvoy talks Delvin field names with John and reveals a mystical pet project. John visits The Burren to see if local cave PollnaGollum might have inspired Tolkien’s famous character Gollum and writer Joseph O’Connor tells us why the English couple who founded Letterfrack deserve a statue on O’Connell street..
Tolkien in The Burren – John investigates a local belief that JRR Tolkien names his character Gollum after a Burren Cave, Pollnagollum. He also learns how Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings was inspired by his love of the magical Clare landscape.
The Ellis’s of Letterfrack – Childhood holidays to Connemara inspired Joesph O’Connor’s famine novel Star of The Sea, the research for which lead him to the story of James and Mary Ellis, the founders of Letterfrack. Joseph goes onto say ‘if any aspect of the Irish famine were called a Holocaust then James and Mary Ellis are the Schindlers of this story.
TX: Creedon’s Atlas of Ireland, 6.30 PM on RTÉ One on 14th March